Small Homes, Big Impact​.
As leaders in small-space design, Fivedot brings deep experience and thoughtful creativity to the design of Detached Accessory Dwelling Units (DADUs). Whether you're building a custom backyard cottage or choosing from one of our pre-approved plans through Seattle or Kirkland’s expedited permitting programs, we know how to make compact spaces feel expansive, elegant, and deeply livable.​
Today, more and more people are choosing to live in DADUs as their primary homes. These compact residences offer a high-quality, efficient alternative to traditional housing—often at a more accessible price point. Whether designed for individuals, couples, or small families, DADUs provide a way to live with intention: in well-crafted, right-sized homes that prioritize comfort, beauty, and connection to place. In a changing housing landscape, they represent a thoughtful solution for urban living.
From site-specific custom designs to fast-tracked permit-ready models, we help homeowners unlock the full potential of their property with cottages that are modern, efficient, and built to last.
Detached Backyard Cottage Projects
"Fivedot brings a depth of creativity and an easy-going professionalism to their work that makes them a pleasure to work with."
— Brad, Seattle, WA —
FAQ
The short although unsatisfying answer is ‘it depends’. There are rules relating to access, parking, lot size etc. that all effect whether or not you can build a DADU. With our experience with DADUs we can usually figure out the answer to this pretty quickly. Contact us to chat about your project.
This is another ‘it depends’ answer. That said, we looked at this in a bit more detail in this blog post, "Backyard Cottage Costs".
Yes. Thanks to the hard work of a some dedicated advocates, rules for the construction of DADU’s have become more permissive. The big deal changes are:
- Change from a maximum size of 800 sqft to 1000 sqft.
- No parking required for DADU’s.
- Owner occupancy requirement removed.
- Allows for a DADU and an ADU on the same lot.
- Reduced the minimum lot size for DADU's.
There are other changes as well but these were the big ones.